not a bad player berrigan,but we have had far better.i still think the really great rugby league players are specialists in one position.like peter sterling,gary kemble,steve norton.berrigan was fairly good in a few positions,but not great in any one position.

Having read comments on here I am a little confused. Unless my computer has only given me half the article I fail to see where he has a dig at Agar or Hull FC. Its more a dig at the English game imo. Lets take it piece by piece.

[iWarriors recruit Shaun Berrigan says three years in the English Super League have done nothing for his game[/i

No dig at Hull specifically though it certainly doesn't help the ESL.

[i"I wouldn't say it's done much for my game at all. I got chopped and changed around a fair bit. There's not much depth in the squads there ... I played centre, hooker, halfback, even the back row." [/i

I think this is a simple comment that is 100% true. He never really had a settled position over the past 2 years. There isn't depth in squads here (note plural) compared to down under. To me thats because the game is smaller and equally because of the very low salary cap limit we employ compared to Oz and equally Union.

[iBerrigan has always prided himself on his fitness and he's relying on that to help him with the adjustments needed to reacquaint himself with the pace of the game here.

"The guys generally are bigger and it's more physical," he said when asked to compare the northern game. "There were 12 interchanges so the guys can carry a bit more weight and can get subbed a bit more. The last two years there was a real big emphasis on the wrestle."[/i

Again totally honest and another that is wrong with the entire game here. It would seem that we train our players to be exactly like the other teams squads in order to compete. Not a dig at Hull FC but the entire ESL.

The rest seems to be about the NRL and what he once did and what he hopes to do.

I would agree that we never saw him at his best, but that comes from whats around him and frankly due to injurues and lack of depth as he quoted he didn't get the same standard as he was / is used to in the NRL.
There is no mention of Agar or anyone in particular at Hull and to seize on this as evidence of the failings of Hull FC is stretching it to the extreme.

Before anyone asks I am firmly in the Agar out camp and have been for 18 months so I am no apologist for the current regieme.

The guy was a POMPOUS TW4T, who strutted around Hop Pole pub as he thought he owned it and every bit of skirt in the place.

He gave us what.....6 good games.

Hope Hull FC thought he was worth it...because I certainly didnt.

A very, very poor Richard Swain...in fact he couldnt tie up the boots of Richard Swain.

A bloke who far up his own ar4e and anyone who wants to put him up as one as our one greatest signings are just deluded.

Problem is if you put someone in charge of him who didn't know what they were doing and surrounded them with idiots then you'd get the same results Hull did with berrigan. It was as if Hull expected him to be richard swain mkII and berrigan was a completely different type of player

The issue with Hull is that agar isn't able to get the resources he has to be at least as good as the sum of it's parts. Interesting that berrigan's best season with us coincided with the latter stages of peter sharp's tenure

Can't see how the amount of money he was paid has any baring on how he performs on the pitch.

If he was paid 150k a season, should he put in twice the effort and skill than a player on 75k???

Good on Berro, tell us all what a shambles our club has become.

Spot on.

What berro said is true to be honest , his first season he was very good when he played most of the season at hooker then he seemed to never get a proper run in 1 position. Also the fitness side is obvious to anyone who watches the two leagues they are far better athletes

For me Berrigan had enough opportunities to make an impression over here and didnt deliever regardless of how many positions he had to cover..other players of less stature manage it with the same squad depth/interchanges etc that he had to contend with...

personally think he was the wrong signing at the time really, you lost a real leader in richard swain and thought berrigan as an aussie international would fit the bill to replace him. trouble was as good as berrigan is he isn't and never has been a leader on the field for any of his teams. you paid him lots of money because thats the going rate for aussie internationals, he couldn't deliver what you wanted him to do because he wasn't that kind if player imho

A player of his apparent stature, skill & experience should have enabled him to drag the mediocrity up a notch and stand out 9 times out of 10. Good workers produce good results even within teams that aren't all that and despite crappy line managers. Fact is Berrigan didn't deliver the consistant quality that was expected of an international centre/hooker.
@ Graham Richards, if can't read between the lines then that's fine but that is a very thinly veiled pop at Hull FC & the management henc why so many are commenting on it. The words are chosen so as not to make a direct link to the club so it doesn't cause a stink, very smart if you ask me.

Yep to a certain extent I agree with what you say. Yes it may be THINLY veiled dig at the club but its a massive dig at the game in general in Europe. How even with a free spending board and better coach do you foresee a situation where squads are deeper? Better quality maybe but bigger squads never.
How do you see Hull avoiding the situation where the entire emphasis of the game is shifted from the wrestle ?
That's the English game to a T and is why its sterile and dull without off the cuff play. Its also why we will be forever playing second fiddle to the Aussies and Kiwis.
I don't see why he has breached any contract of silence like some suggest. I also don't see how it questions Agar.
I did think he was a decent signing when he came. I did not expect him to replace Swain as like Knocker and Sterling, Smith he was a once in a generation player. I was disappointed with him post 08 but equally felt he was the best of what has been a mediocre bunch.
Its all opinions of course.

I don't disagree with any of his statements per se and that he has said anything doesn't bother me one iota. The game is technically poor IMHO, a large part of it stems from the RFL allowing the game to demise and infringements let slide (despite many fans saying refs don't let the game flow).
My point was that you said it didn't have a dig at Agar and Hull FC, I disagreed.
Your point that he is having a go at SL is of course absolute, the way in which he has chosen his words gives them a double edged meaning which was quite obvious I thought.

To resolve it the RFL need to change the laws of the game to emphasise getting off the player as soon as the tackle is complete as opposed to the tacklers waiting for the refs call. Full 10m from the ptb to be imposed, given it is supposed to be 10m when the ball leaves the ruck not as the player is putting the ball down. Also less interchanges as Berro mentioned.
Hull FC need to do whatever they can within the rules to win, they need to push the edges of the rules as far as allowable like other top teams do week in week out.

Absolutely spot on. I also think, as alluded to in his article , he wasn't happy with the way things were and the fact the players around him weren't the quality he'd been used to so he ended up not giving a toss. He certainly looked utterly miserable or bored for most of the last two years.

thank the motivational whirlwind that is Dick Agar!

I read this thread first then read the article. I thought there must be a couple of paragraphs missing off the link such is the disparity between what this thread says and what was actually said